CIMdata PLM Industry Summary Online Archive

29 July 2008

Company News

Communications Service Provider Product Management is Broken

A survey of leaders in Communication Service Provider (CSP) product management has revealed the extent to which the product management process is manual, fragmented and inefficient. The survey, carried out by Tribold, highlights how the continued use of manual product management processes and confusion over departmental ownership of product management is having a costly impact upon business performance.

A key business challenge for CSPs is time to market for new products. Tribold’s survey found that only 5% of respondents felt that they could launch new products within a three-month period, with nearly half (45%) taking between six and 12 months to bring a new product to market. The current manual product management processes are clearly central to this issue, as 80% of respondents felt that an automated product lifecycle management (PLM) system would have a significant positive impact upon time and cost KPIs for product delivery. Currently, fewer than half of CSPs are meeting time to market and cost to market KPIs.

With the impact of manual product management processes on business performance – with a significant proportion of products left unmanaged - it is no wonder that 66% of CSPs are currently undertaking some sort of product consolidation and rationalisation. In addition, more than a quarter of CSPs (27%) are already investing in new product management systems to address the key issues.

Simon Muderack, COO of Tribold, commented: “Our survey has confirmed our worst fears about the state of product management within CSPs. Manual processes and lack of integration and collaboration between departments is resulting in delays in bringing new products to market and poor management of existing product catalogs. The good news is that there is clear recognition within the industry that an automated approach to product lifecycle management can have immediate and significant business benefits.”

Tribold’s survey of leaders in CSP product management was carried out online in April 2008. The webinar explaining the survey results can be found on Tribold’s website: http://www.tribold.com/survey-webinar.

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